The Vampiric Familiar of Zero
by LZW
Summary: Louise summoned a man that was, as far as she knew, a noble. Though things may not be as they seem and while this man was definitely beautiful and claimed to be strong, he was far from holy… So what happens when the man offers her a choice? One that could change the entire course of her life... Dark Louise. Adopted From: A Certain Random Guy Cover Art By: coveredbyroses
1. Chapter 1: Contract

A/N: I have adopted this story from 'A Certain Random Guy'. If you want to read the original it is called 'The Undead Familiar'.

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Founder be damned, I'm dead. That's what Louie thought when the smoke of her summoning was blown away by Tabitha's wind magic. On top of the summoning circle stood a man, around thirty years old, by his appearance. His black hair was long, ending about a hand's length below his neck. Louise noted, with something that couldn't possibly be envy, that his hair was silkier than hers would ever be, as if he spent every day of his life treating it. Along with his beard, that covered the lower part of his face in an graceful style. It gave him a look of wisdom not even the Headmaster's beard, that was as long as Louise was tall, could give.

His eyes, colored in the same tone as the hair, also added to the impact. They were the eyes that she saw on her mother's face, analytical and stern, but at the same time caring. It was quite strange, how a young man could have the look of an experienced woman. All in all, it was just a part of the perfect face of the man. His nose was not too big nor it was too small, the white skin, that on anyone else would give an ill look, just made him more charming.

But it was not the man's appearance that worried her, of course not. The real problem was the way the man stood. Not relaxed, but at the same time not rigid. Not overconfident, but just enough to give the message. Intimidating, but not sufficient that you would want to stay away. She had seen a stance like that before, but only on a few people, a long time ago. When she played together with the Princess Henrietta and her cousin Wales, Prince of Albion. That was the stance of kings and queens, perfected through years of practice, that made them regal, that showed the rest of the people they were superior, but also willing to talk.

His clothes just cemented that perception. The colors were not really special, the man wore mostly red and black, choices that were a lot cheaper than dyes of blue or purple. But she was barely able to recognize the material that made his set, silk, the special cloth that arrived from time to time, in low quantities, from Rub' al Khali. The man had an entire shirt made of it. It didn't end there, gold lines drew intricate symbols through the black silk. While unsure since she wasn't an earth mage, the glistening properties of the lines suggested they were gold threads.

Covering the man's back was a red cape that looked more expensive than Louise's entire wardrobe. Just as the figure that wore it, the piece looked perfectly balanced, just light enough, while also being warm. He was directly in front of her so she couldn't see fully, but she was certain she saw a sigil covering most of it, making her even more afraid.

The looks, the stance, the clothes, even up to the damn shoes that were probably made of dragon hide, the man screamed nobility, if not outright royalty, maybe she had summoned a foreign prince from beyond the Rub' al Khali. Though there was one thing she could be sure of, she had taken someone important away from his home and he would be none too happy about that.

So she just stood there, frozen like a frightened animal, hoping that maybe he would overlook her. She just followed with her eyes as the man raised his hands, up until that moment covered by the cape, up to his chin and looked around, eyes slightly narrowed. Though for some stupid reason, Louise couldn't avoid thinking how even his hands looked too well treated, the nails cut short and the palm without any sign of labor work, as if he didn't need to even move the pages of a book by himself.

"I must say, Halkegenian, I think you are the most daring mage I have met in a long time"

The man finally spoke and that only made her pale even more at the sound of his lavishing voice that was practically enchanted to sound alluring.

"To wake this one from his long sleep and bring him to such a place… Indeed, this is an interesting situation."

At that the man smiled and then whatever fears Louise had were quickly exchanged for pure horror. Not because the man's teeth were incredibly clean, even if they were, but because of the disturbing size of his canines.

A Vampire. A bloody Vampire. She had asked for a beautiful and powerful familiar after all… The founder must have a disturbing sense of humor. Though at least she got two of the three things she asked for. She would have liked it to be holy but that would already be asking for too much since she had actually managed to summon something.

She didn't know how the Vampire in front of her hadn't turned to ashes yet, though. The sun was high in the sky and there were almost no clouds on this sunny day. From what she heard about Vampires, they should die in the sunlight, shouldn't they? Not sparkle like that one novel she once read, not simply be weakened, but bloody vanish into ashes. Most of all, they weren't supposed to simply ignore the sun and make comments about the unlucky noble girl that summoned them.

Though at this moment, she couldn't care more about it because while her mind thought about how wrong the situation was, her teacher was already attacking in hope of protecting his student. In the blink of an eye an intimidating flame snake left the teacher's staff, the burning body shifting through the air in the direction of the monster.

Vampires were also supposed to be weak to fire. It was one of the ways to kill them, right? Burn their bodies and they would be done for good. Well, the flames were damn good for nothing when the Vampire simply shook off the powerful, at least triangle class, magic that attacked him, making it vanish.

"I have no deal with you, fire mage. The one that brought me here was the little one, not you..."

The Vampire taking a step forward. Colbert didn't flinch, instead conjuring an even stronger spell, a massive wall of fire that engulfed the Vampire completely. For a moment, Louise thought she was finally safe, but then she noticed there were no screams. It didn't matter if it was a human or a blood sucking monster, people screamed when they were burned. Specially when the flames were hot enough for her to feel like she was burning.

But then, like the snake before, the wall of fire disappeared with a mere handwave from its target. However, said target did not strike back. It simply took another step closer and glared at the bald teacher. This time the Vampire looked with piercing eyes at the professor and spoke with a voice that clearly conveyed that there was no room for mercy.

"I will not warn you again."

He then shifted his eyes to the Academy's main tower.

"Tristain's Academy of Magic, I see. You must be a teacher..."

A look of realization crossed the Vampire's face.

"A most honorable profession, yes. You need not to worry, professor, for I will not hurt your student."

The Vampire then surprised most of the crowd by bowing to Professor Colbert.

'Okay, someone should probably hit me right now, because I must be dreaming. A Vampire being my familiar, said Vampire breaking every rule she thought she knew about Vampires, shaking off high level magic as if it was nothing and then... Showing an incredible respect to a teacher?!'

This probably shocked Colbert just as much as it shocked her, since he made no more resistance when the Vampire took the last steps, finally standing about two feet in front of her.

"In all honesty, my kind's reputation is most wicked around this regions, I presume. It has been quite long since I last saw this place."

The Vampire then turn his head towards Louise and addressed her.

"But no matter. Young mage, you boldness is something we may discuss at a later date. The topic at hand is the reason you summoned one such as me from my home, years away from here, to Tristain. What does one such as you want from me?"

She found out she couldn't speak. It was obvious why, how could she simply tell a Vampire that probably outlived everyone she knew, that probably held more fortune than even the Vallière house, to be a familiar? Not only that, the familiar of a failure such as her. In the end, she stumbled in her words a few dozen times before she finally managed to speak

"I-I s-su-summoned you to b-be my f-familiar..."

It felt weird leaving her mouth, but what could she do, lying wouldn't help since he would likely detect the lie so she had to tell the truth. Though she might as well be dead after saying such a preposterous thing.

He looked at her with an expression that could probably be interpreted as astonishment for what felt like an eternity. Then, just as he did half a dozen times before, he did something completely unexpected, he gave her an honest, if bittersweet, smile.

"Vampires cannot become familiars, young one, for we are already dead."

The Vampire explained it was in a matter of fact way that caused Louise's spirits to drop. She realized that she was enough of a failure that she summoned an all powerful monster but couldn't even bind him to her.

"What we can do, are special contracts..."

At that, all hope that was lost was found again, until being traded by cautiousness.

"What exactly do you mean?"

"I can serve you, young mage, as no other can. But to have me as a servant is to have the world in your hands, your enemies non existent and the dangers taken away. It's not a cheap thing, but if you summoned me here, I might as well offer you..."

He paused for a moment, as if trying to remember something, only to realize he didn't know the piece of information in the first place and as such decided to inquire about it.

"What your name, young mage?"

"Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière."

"Very well. I give you an offer, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. I shall feed from your blood and your blood only, while you shall wield me against your foes. I can give you power like you would never imagine and the only this you have to do is choose. Now, do you accept this contract?"

'What do I do? Accepting such a contract would essentially be blasphemy! But wait… What has the Founder ever done for me? For all I know, the devil sent me this Vampire in place of the air that the Founder would have given me...'

Louise looked around to her classmates and saw their eyes filled with fear, fear for her summon. They would normally be glares of scorn or disdain while laughing and jeering at her failures. But if she accepted, if she took this Vampire as hers... She closed her eyes and clenched her fist as the weight this decision would have on her life tormented her mind.

As the years of abuse plagued the young Vallière's mind, she opened her eyes and relaxed her fists. She had made a decision. Though it would not be a good one, it would have the best outcome. With conviction in her voice, the young mistreated mage announced her answer.

"I accept!"

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A/N: There you have it, a rewrite of the original chapter. For now it will stay like this and I will continue it in the future. Review, favourite and follow if you've enjoyed. Don't forget to check out my other stories and poll as well.


	2. Chapter 2: Revelation

A/N: This was the story the dart hit on the dartboard so here it is I guess… Also, if anyone thinks Louise's change is too drastic, she has been abused by her classmates for a really long time and it is surprising she managed to hold it in so in this Fic I'm simply helping her let it out.

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"I accept!"

Years of abuse finally snapped her as she began to see things in a new, darker, light. The Vampire smiled as he heard her answer and those around her gasped in fear.

"Well then, I shall deal with the formalities of the contract later since I expect that one of noble birth such as you would surely uphold your end of the agreement. For now, lets get rid of the witnesses shall we, Master?"

"Yes, lets…"

"On your word, Master."

"Kill them all."

"As you wish…"

In a flash the Vampire disappeared from the sight of all around him, only to appear with hands around the neck of the professor, ending him in a moment. Louise sighed at the loss of the only person in the school who even remotely cared about her. It was the most logical choice since he was the strongest person in the immediate vicinity and so should be killed off first.

The undead being moved on to the others and systematically wiped them out, killing off the loudest ones first to reduce the risk of more people coming to investigate. After an afternoon filled with bloodshed and the screams of dying students and staff, the Vampire returned to where Louise had been and was surprised to find her standing in the spot she had been when she first accepted the contract, with her head held low.

"You seem to be taking this rather well, my previous contractors all would've cracked by now and asked me to undo what I had done, either that or they started attacking me and I was forced to kill them."

"I knew what would come of taking such a contract, it is no surprise that they needed to die, besides, most of them never even treated me as a fellow noble. so I see no reason to do the same."

"Interesting, I feel that being with you is going to be quite fun indeed Master…"

"Get on with the contract Vampire."

"Of course."

"Now Master, this might sting just a bit…"

His teeth sunk into her neck and she cringed slightly as the spike of pain was felt and slowly started to numb. Her eyelids felt heavy as she felt the blood drain out of her. The unfamiliar loss of blood caused her to black out and relax into the arms of the Vampire. The undead being pulled his fangs out and licked his lips.

'I have never tasted blood like this before in all my undead life! I feel as if the blood itself is pulsing with mana! This will truly be an intriguing time indeed…'

Louise awoke a few hours later in her room and immediately shifted her hair aside to check in the mirror if the bite marks were there. Plain as day, the two snake like bite marks could be seen on the part of her neck where she was bit. She looked around in an attempt to find the one who bit her.

"Vampire! Appear before me now!"

A bat tucked away in a corner of the room suddenly flew to the ground and in a puff of smoke transformed into the Vampire Louise had summoned.

"What do you require of me Master?"

"What exactly entails of this contract besides the obvious?"

"Hm… Nothing much more I suppose, you feed me and I become your warrior essentially."

A look of disbelief crossed Louise's face.

"I highly doubt a powerful being like you would so easily pledge themselves to a human like me."

"True, I suppose it's just that I got really bored I guess. Being alive for centuries tends to bore you, especially when everyone you meet either wants to stake you or steal your bloody supply."

"Actually, what is even your name?"

The Vampire had a look of astonishment and stepped back.

"Oh how rude, I haven't even introduced myself. My name, is Vlad, Monarch of the Purebloods!"

"Monarch?"

"I'm basically a noble Vampire to put it in simple terms."

"How high exactly are you in rank?"

"The highest my dear Master…"

"I see, well this be interesting, although I now question what I am supposed to do. I killed off the entire academy and so someone will eventually come, discover I am the only survivor and report it to the court who will go after me."

"Oh don't worry about that Master, I made sure to clean up."

"Good, I think…"

"Still unsure about your decision?"

"A little, although all this feels so surreal, as if I was dreaming…"

"I can assure you this is no dream Master, I could pinch you if you would like."

"No, I doubt that would help, the bite marks are more than enough proof. Speaking of that, what else did you even do to me?"

"Nothing much, I took some of your blood, mixed it with mine and made you drink it. It's mainly a ceremonial thing though."

"Alright, so when do these go away?"

"They stay, there's no point in me biting new ones every time I have to feed is there? Just think of them as the mark of our contract."

"So you're going to extract blood from me every day?!"

"It depends really, I can go for about two weeks without blood assuming I don't strain myself but battle will require me to exert myself and so I will need to consume more blood to compensate. Don't worry though Master, your blood is very nutritious, more so than the finest cattle human in all of Vampiria."

"Vampiria?"

"The land where most pureblooded Vampires reside, the ones which attack you on the countryside are mainly non-purebloods who have lost their minds to the cravings of the red liquid, savage lot they are…"

"So purebloods are not blood crazed?"

"Most of us aren't but there are some special cases."

"I see…"

"Anything else you wish to ask?"

"Do you have any advice on what to do now?"

"Well for now I suppose we should vacate the premises less someone finds you and accuses you of the deaths."

"Yeah, that would be smart…"

"So then where shall we go Master?"

"Hmm, I suppose we could go visit the Princess…"

"You know royalty? How interesting…"

"I had the honor of being her majesty's playmate!"

"You seem to be quite fond of her, it would be a shame if something were to happen to her."

"You keep your hands off her Vampire!"

A sly smile crossed Vlad's face

"But of course Master, I wouldn't dream of harming the one you consider so dear."

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Indeed, it has been a good hundred years since I have come into contact with any Halkeginians and I intend to entertain myself until I'm satisfied."

"Just don't overdo it…"

"Understood, then shall we set off Master?"

"Not yet, I need to gather my things in such a way that it just looks like I left before the incident."

"Then I shall await you at the academy gates."

Louise packed her belongings that one would usually bring for an average length journey and set of on one of the academy horses towards the Capital, with Vlad in bat form resting on her shoulder like an owl would a mage.

"What are you even going to do once you arrive at the castle?"

"Simple, I'll pretend as if nothing happened and that I decided to take a relaxing slow trip to the Capital, making it seem like I had set out before the massacre and hence had an alibi."

"How cunning…"

"My mother had me learn these kinds of things should a political conflict occur and I get caught up in it, we are one of the most influential houses in Tristain after all. She's also the legendary Karin of the Heavy Wind incase you wanted to know."

The Vampire quirked an eyebrow at the name and smiled.

"You just keep on surprising me, what's next? I suppose don't you are going to say your father's name is Éric Jehan Paulin?"

"How did you know?!"

"Wait… Your father is actually the legendary Vampire hunter Éric Jehan Paulin?!"

"Dad was a Vampire hunter?"

"Wait, before that, is your elder sister the famous magic mechanics researcher Éléonore Albertine Le Blanc de La Blois de La Vallière?"

"Yes… Don't tell me there's something about Cattleya too…"

"There is, Cattleya Yvette La Baume Le Blanc de La Fontaine is sickly right?"

"Yes…"

"And no one can cure her?"

"Yes but what are you getting at?"

She did not receive an answer and a few seconds passed in silence. Louise was getting impatient with the Vampire and was about to demand a straight answer when he suddenly spoke out in a voice evident with nostalgia and amusement.

"Splendid, absolutely splendid! Who would've thought they were all in the same family!? This is more fun than I could ever have imagined! Who would have thought I would how such an interesting contractee. You don't know do you?"

"Know what?"

"Your entire family hunted Vampires! I remember that those were the days, things were actually exciting when they were in action. When we finally struck a blow against Cattleya they stopped coming after us, I had wondered what happened to them."

"You hurt Cattleya!?"

"She wasn't always so weak Master, she was once one of the most feared Vampire hunters in all of Halkeginia. Your mother and other sister as well. I remember it just like it was a year ago, they all had names given to them by us based on their signature spells. Karin the Heavy Wind, Eric the Searing Flames, Eleonore the Eroding Waves and Cattleya the Quaking Earth…"

"What…"

Louise's brain shut off for a good minute before she finally started to process and comprehend the info dump that had happened.

"Wait… So that means my entire family is going to come after me?"

"Likely, but that really depends on if they find out so you should conceal your identity whenever you're with me or I will need to pose as a fellow noble, a pet bat is most suspicious after all."

"Ugh, how did a single Vampire turn my life upside down so badly…"

Soon approaching the capital, Vlad transformed back into his human form and retracted his fangs before walking the rest of the path on foot, planning to meet up with Louise later on at the castle gates.

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A/N: I think I have found a good name for the Duke in Éric since the person Karin was likely based on, Carin du Rietz, married a man named Erik Johan Paulin. Well, according to Wikipedia anyway but let's not sweat the details. Another thing, why the hell is the vote option for a Zero no Tsukaima story where I suffer getting so many votes? Every voter after I added the option has voted for it... Do you all want to see me suffer so badly? I mean I know I write for it a lot and have recently destroyed Louise's life in one of the Fics but do I really have to masochate myself? As usual, review, favourite and follow if you've enjoyed. Don't forget to check out my other stories and poll as well. Story status information can be found on my profile and you can make suggestions on my forum.


	3. Chapter 3: Deception

A/N: Welcome to the third chapter readers, took me a while to finally get started but here it is so enjoy! As per suggested by ChaosxPaladin, I will reference The Curse of Dracula, The Horror of Frankenstein, Vampire Hunter D, and Castlevania in the form of quotes used in the franchises. Note that I might get some wrong but I hope I don't so enjoy and see if you can spot them.

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Louise left her horse at the stables and headed towards the castle gates, only to find herself impeded at the gates. She was stopped by the palace guards on the grounds of trespassing. The pink haired noble managed to stay on castle grounds for a matter of five seconds before she was carefully escorted to a waiting room by the guards. She was soon received by her good friend.

"Princess!"

"Louise, what brings you to my castle, you should be at class, not that I mind the visit."

"I wanted to see you Princess one last time as a mage, I got the teachers to postpone my summoning ritual so I could come see you before I possibly failed the ritual and was forced to leave the academy."

"Oh Louise, you will summon a wonderful familiar, I am sure of it."

"I wish it were true Princess but my magic has shown no sign of improvement."

"Don't be disheartened Louise, I'm sure you will be a great mage when you grow up, just like your mother was."

"I do hope so Princess…"

"Enough of that, come, I only have a short time before I must return to my duties and I would like to use it to catch up."

Louise soon found herself in a garden surrounded by all colours of flowers. In the middle of the garden was a set of tables and chairs for visitors to relax. She seated herself across the Princess and smiled. It had been a long time since she and the Princess had gotten time to just chat without a care in the world due to her duties to the kingdom.

"So Louise, why don't you tell me how school life has been?"

'Oh fine, just killed all my schoolmates and teachers after being laughed at for too long. As if I could say that…'

"It's alright, I just occasionally get jeered at for my magical inaptitude."

"You sure you can handle it? I could arrange for you to have some special classes if you can't."

"I'm fine Princess, there is no need to stress you more than you already are."

"Well, if you say so, but I wish you would stop being so formal with me Louise, we are childhood friends are we not?"

"I cannot, I was merely given the pleasure of being chosen to be your royal playmate!"

"As usual that excuse, well I shan't press you anymore on it for today, time is short and I would like to talk more abou-"

Suddenly, a group of women clad in armor burst through the door of the garden and aimed their weapons at Louise while one of them, presumably the leader, pulled the Princess to a safe distance from the table where the pink haired noble sat.

"Don't move!"

The Princess resisted as she tried to reach out to her friend.

"Agnes! What is the meaning of this!"

"Get back Princess, that noble is a prime suspect for the kidnapping at the academy!"

"Louise is?"

"Indeed, it was found not long ago that the entire population of the academy disappeared. Mott de Wave was making a trip there on some matters regarding the commoners and discovered that the academy was devoid of any life. Since she is the only person known to still be here, it makes her the most suspicious."

"Please stand down Agnes, Louise is my childhood friend and I know she would never do such a thing. Besides, does it not take hours to get here by horse? She likely set out before the incident."

Agnes narrowed her eyes at the noble and reluctantly sheathed her sword.

"If you command it Princess."

"Thank you Agnes."

"I do however request that you allow us to investigate this further."

"Very well, I shall be expecting a summary of your findings in a few days then."

"It shall be done."

Henrietta then turned to Louise with a weak smile.

"I'm sorry about that Louise, Agnes is very cautious of my safety."

"It's alright Princess, I didn't get hurt after all."

"Thank you for understanding Louise but I fear that our time together is coming to an end, I have a finance meeting with the other nobles soon and I must prepare for it."

"I guess I will return home then since the magic academy is no longer safe."

"I wish you luck Louise."

WIth that, the Princess left the room to prepare.

'Phew, that was close.'

Louise soon left as well, heading to the castle gates where, as planned, she met up with Vlad.

"So how was it to visit your old friend, Master?"

"It was good, we got to catch up a bit, though the Musketeer Squad almost arrested me, the Princess managed to bail me out."

"Wonderful, what shall we do now then?"

"Hmm, I guess returning home isn't an option, considering the risks."

"You have to return home eventually Master, they will get suspicious if you are away from home for too long."

"Ugh, can you do something about these bite marks then? Keeping them hidden isn't going to be easy."

"Alright, here, rub these over them and they should disappear in a matter of seconds."

Vlad handed her a small bottle of ointment which she kept for later use.

"I thought you said they wouldn't go away?"

"Not naturally my dear, though the special salve I created can hide them until I need to feed again."

"Well I guess that's acceptable. My father won't be able to detect you are a Vampire right? Like he can't smell your scent or something."

"I doubt it, they never used such tactics against us and there has been minimal pureblood activity in recent years so they should be relatively docile for now."

"Good, then we'll need to get you a weapon so you can act as my guard for journeys."

"Oh?"

"It will work out, I can simply say you are to fend off the kidnapper in case he comes to attack me."

"Very well, let us be off then."

Vlad and Louise soon found themselves in a shady back alley weapons shop with a barely hanging sign.

"Louise, you are terrible at shopping…"

"What? I got us to a weapon shop didn't I?"

"Yes, but this has to be the most unreliable weapon shop in Tristain… Forget it, maybe you are somehow insanely lucky and there actually is a weapon there worthy of me."

The duo walked into the weapons shop and asked for a weapon. The arms dealer himself looked extremely suspicious and laid back but soon came back with a long gilded broadsword. Seeing this, Vlad immediately turned away in disgust. He could hear the man yapping about its amazing, likely faked, origin which supposedly made it worth an entire manor.

Deciding he had better things to do, Vlad looked through the other weapons in the shop and eventually, after searching through most other areas, he found a rusted dusty sword that had a strange ancient feel radiating off it. The Vampire gripped the sword and immediately recognized the sword. He smirked and turned to the shop keep.

"Hey, if you claim that sword is so good then this rusted piece of junk shouldn't even dent it right?"

"Yea."

"Then why don't you and me have a little bet? If I can split that big golden hunk of junk with this sword, I get the sale price of it plus this sword. If I fail, then I pay you twice the price of that sword, for this one."

"You serious!? Deal!"

'Haha, what a stupid noble, thinking he is so smart. Even if that sword is stronger, his wimpy frame would not possess the muscle to even dent it, let alone split it in half.'

"What are you thinking!?"

"Trust me."

Vlad held the gold blade outwards of the table with its top resting on the table and brought him arm back holding the rusted sword. With great force and speed, he brought the blade down and sliced the gilded ornament in half, resulting in the jaw of the shop keeper opening so wide it practically hit the floor. With wide eyes, the shop keeper kept looking back and forth between the blade Vlad held and the split blade resting on his table.

"Looks like I won the bet, pay up."

Regaining some of his composure when his money was at stake, the arms dealer shook his head.

"No way, you cheated!"

"You accuse me of using underhanded tactics?"

"Yea!"

"Let me repeat myself, you accuse me, a noble, of cheating?"

The Vampire had used a much more menacing voice this time and emphasized his position, making man quake in his boots.

"Yes…"

"I see, well then, it appears that your weapon shop has recently committed an offense of selling forged weapons, I should report this to the palace at once."

"No, wait please! Take the money, just don't say anything!"

"Now you're beginning to see things my way…"

Vlad walked out of the store happily as he carried his riches in a loud jingling pouch which soon disappeared under his cloak.

"So now what, we're stuck with that garbage sword. Ugh, whatever, not like you're not strong enough without one."

"Ah but that is where you are wrong Master, this sword, is infact more interesting than you may think."

"How so?"

"Perhaps I will show it to you when the opportunity comes, it is not exactly an easy weapon to awaken."

"Awaken?"

"You will see when the time comes Louise…"

"Well alright, I guess I can trust you on that."

"So how far away are we from your family estate Master?"

"It is on the right side of Tristain, past the magic academy so we will be travelling for a while."

"How long is the trip, assuming there are no distractions."

"I guess a day or two, depending on the horse."

"Hmm, we will need some supplies then, I shall get some basic feed and some rations while you get the horse to the exit, I will meet up with you in half an hour's time. Feel free to wander while I precure the needed items but be sure to be punctual."

"Right."

The two parted ways at the market place and Vlad utilized his expertly trained negotiation skills to acquire supplies for the journey. Louise decided to have a snack before they left and visited a tea house in the nobles district. There, she heard that the Civil War in Albion had been heavily in the rebel's favour. She briefly prayed to the Founder for the Loyalist's safety but stopped short after realizing that she would likely not receive his blessing for the crime she has committed.

She looked at the food on the plate and took a wiff of the tea she had been served. The mage savoured them carefully for if Vlad had been wrong about her family not being able to detect he was a Vampire, which he could be, this might be the last luxurious meal she would get. Louise eventually finished eating and rode the horse she had brought from the academy to the gate where she found Vlad waiting for her, early. He packed the supplies in the travelling packs of the horse, strapped the sword to the side of the horse and transformed in a puff of smoke.

"Right Master, shall we be on our way?"

"Lets."

Louise and Vlad rode off South-East towards the Valliere estate.

* * *

A/N: Hey I wrote above target again, how nice. Do note that it is not easy to think up these chapters, especially since I have a word target of two thousand words per chapter, the highest of my current Fics, for this Fic and there are few cannon events to use with most of the cast dead. For those wondering, I am considering having a Vampire versus Valliere fight but I am pondering weather to make it a flashback or a future event, possibly, and likely, both.

Challenge: Derf will be used to reference a popular Anime with Vampires and swords in it so if anyone can guess it before I write the next chapter, which will take awhile, they will get to vote twice for one option in the poll.

As usual, review, favourite and follow if you've enjoyed. Don't forget to check out my other stories, community and poll as well. Story status information can be found on my profile and you can make suggestions on my forum.


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